Elena E. Kuzmina (edited by J.P. Mallory). The Origins of the Indo-Iranians.

Elena E. Kuzmina (edited by J.P. Mallory). The Origins of the Indo-Iranians. ELENA ELENA Enhanced Learning for Evolutive Neural Architectures E. KUZMINA (edited by J.P. MALLORY). The Origins of theIndo-Iranians. xviii+762 pages, 132 figures. 2007. Leiden: Brill;978-90-04-16054-5 hardback 139 [euro] & US$195. The book under review summarises the results of many years'work by Elena Kuzmina, the eminent Russian archaeologist who has devotedher life to the study of Eurasian cultures and the origins of theIndo-Iranians. The historiography of this topic is vast, involving arange of disciplines--archaeology, linguistics, anthropology, mythology,ethnography, history--producing a number of alternative hypotheses. Theycan be reduced to two major groups: the Near Eastern hypothesis, mostsystematically articulated by Gamkrelidze and Ivanov (1984), and theEuropean or Eurasian hypothesis, supported by many Russian and someWestern scholars, including Mallory (1989). A crucial element of thelatter is the interpretation of the Andronovo archaeological culture In addition to its usual meaning in social science, in archaeology, the term is also used in reference to several related concepts unique to the discipline. Archaeological cultureThis article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. (family of cultures, or cultural intercommunity), whose sites lie withina huge territory behind the Urals. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The book gives a clear introduction into this topic, and outlinesits basic task: 'a thorough comparison of the linguistic andarchaeological data and the assessment of the ethnic attribution of theAndronovo Culture' (pp. xv-xvi). It should be stressed that theidea of a connection between this culture and the ancient Indo-Iraniansis the thread that runs through the whole book. In order to ground thisidea and explode the Near Eastern hypothesis, Kuzmina has collected,classified, compared, and summarised a huge amount of archaeologicaldata, including that obtained from her own fieldwork; this is thenexamined against written records, linguistic and ethnographic datarelating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accthe material culture of the Indo-Iranians, as well asanthropological (craniological cra��ni��ol��o��gy?n.The scientific study of the characteristics of the skull, such as size and shape, especially in humans.cra ) data. Her argumentation is based on aretrospective method, which involves 'establishing the geneticconnections of a culture with a subsequent one, whose ethnic identity isknown from written sources" (p. 15). In this case it proposes agenetic connection between the Iron Age nomads (Scythians, Sakas,Sarmatians, who presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. spoke eastern Iranian languages The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from ca. the 4th century BC) The Avestan language is often classified as early Eastern Iranian, but this is uncertain. ) and thecultures of Bronze Age Eurasia (mainly the Timber-Grave and Andronovocultures). My impression is that this connection is not as stronglyestablished in the book as other aspects. Overall, the book can be regarded as a classic example of theculture-historical approach. Professor Kuzmina, well aware of thecomplications and weak points in ethnic reconstructions based onarchaeological material, thus devotes her chapter 2 to themethodological aspects of ethnocultural reconstructions and focuses onthe synthetic concept of 'archaeological cultures'.Theoretical aspects of migration are also explored in chapter 16 whenconsidering the stages and types of migrations of pastoral groups withinEurasia. The first part of the book is entirely devoted to the presentationand analysis of the Andronovo culture, introducing the reader to thecomplicated vocabulary of interrelated cultures and cultural typescovered by the Andronovo umbrella. The impressive results achieved byKuzmina in this part relate to her comparative analysis of settlementpatterns within the Andronovo area, which contrasts with Near Easternsettlement and house types. The same can be said for pottery production.She proposes that the direction of an Aryan southward movement can betraced from the diffusion of central Eurasian house-types (pp. 55-8) andhand-made ceramics of Andronovo (Fyedorovo) type. Great attention ispaid to Bronze Age transport, specifically to the origins of lightchariots (a characteristic attribute of the culture of the ancientIndo-Iranians according to ancient texts), rightly regarded as arevolutionary technological invention. Although this question is 'highly debatable, the author, synthesising various data, favours theEurasian steppe as the most appropriate zone where this event might havetaken place. She concludes: ' The process of ethnogenesis Ethnogenesis (From Greek: ethnos(nation)+"genesis(birth), Greek: Εθνογένεσις) is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the in thesteppes in the 2nd millennium BC was of autochthonous autochthonous/au��toch��tho��nous/ (aw-tok��thah-nus)1. originating in the same area in which it is found.2. denoting a tissue graft to a new site on the same individual. character,involving integration and migration, which was strengthened in the17th-16th centuries BC, probably because of the appearance of chariotand bronze casting' (p. 206). Had they been supported by a stronger chronology the resultspresented in the book might have been more convincing. The author'sreasoning still relies on traditional dates, though she is well aware ofthe importance of new [sup.14]C dates, which recent research isproducing in increasing numbers (see Appendices 1 and 2). Professor Kuzmina devotes several chapters to the cultures ofCentral Asia, which are of key importance for understanding possible'scenarii' of interrelations between indigenous populationsand migrating groups from the Andronovo area. Neither does she neglectthe origins of Turbino-Seyma metallurgy, which is, in her opinion,'a result of the interaction between the population of EasternEurope (above all, Abashevo and, partially, Catacomb catacombSubterranean cemetery of galleries with recesses for tombs. The term was probably first applied to the cemetery under St. Sebastian's Basilica that was a temporary resting place for the bodies of Sts. tribes) and earlyAndronovo tribes of the Fedorovo type in eastern Kazakhstan' (p.253). The latter, together with the Afanas'evo groups, were alsoresponsible for the appearance of tin and new metal tools in China. A substantial part of the book (chapters 23-26) is devoted to theauthor's model for the genesis of different branches of theIndo-Iranians, supported by further detail and polemic argumentation,leading Professor Kuzmina to present a panorama of cultural processeswhich might have taken place within the vast Eurasian space over severalmillennia. In conclusion I should say that this book is not easy to read, butpersistent and interested readers will be rewarded by a deep knowledgeof the numerous phenomena which Indo-European studies seek tounderstand. References GAMKRELIDZE, N.V. & V.V. IVANOV. 1984. Indoyevropeyskiy yazyk iindoyevropeytsy (Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans). 2 volumes.Tbilisi: Izd-vo Tbilisskogo universiteta. MALLORY, J.P. 1989. In search of the Indo-Europeans: language,archaeology and myth. London: Thames & Hudson. LUDMILA KORYAKOVA Institute of History and Archaeology, Ural State University Ural State University (Russian: Уральский государственный университет, ,Ekaterinburg, Russia (Email: ludmila.koryakova@usu.ru)